Labels and studios will appeal the P2P ruling

Major record labels and movie studios announced yesterday that they will appeal the court ruling that was delivered back in April that gave a first major court victory for P2P networks.

In the ruling, federal court decided that P2P companies Grokster and Streamcast Networks(owner of the P2P tool Morpheus) weren't liable for the copyright infringements that happen in their P2P networks.

"...decision was wrong,"RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement Tuesday. "These are businesses that were built for the exclusive reason of illegally exchanging copyrighted works, and they make money hand over fist from it. The Court of Appeals should hold them accountable."

"Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights," Judge Wilson wrote in his decision back in April.

RIAA says that Wilson ignored earlier court decision that involved the legendary Napster in which case Napster was held liable for copyright infringements its users made using its network. But according to Grokster's spokesman the judge followed that case very closely and managed to see the structural differences between Napster and Grokster/Morpheus (that were both based, at the time of the case was filed, on FastTrack network which doesn't use central servers unlike Napster did).

2 user comments

Back so soon????
Hope you had a fine holiday! (No casualties to report in your absence). :-)
Oh, I wouldn't worry to much about the RIAA and MPAA. They're just licking their wounds again. It's not just P2P they have to contend with - more importantly, they have to contend with *US*, knowledgeable people, who have been educated by a/D and other like-minded sites. Public awareness of these scoundrel's tactics is increasing. We're not so easily duped as we once were.......

Sour Grapes Sherman can't intimidate the Federal Court. Trying to tell the court that these companies were formulated for the sole purpose of copyright infringement, is a claim that I doubt will be overturned. One way or another P2P sharing is here to stay.
Best to All!
Rodgers